Now anybody can go to www.norden.org/and find statistics on how money and power, paid and unpaid work, suicide and smoking are distributed between women and men in the five Nordic countries and the three autonomous provinces Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

The statistics show for example that men are overrepresented in the labour force in all included countries and provinces, with only one exception: Åland. They also reveal that Iceland has the highest proportion of female managers, that Finnish children spend the least amount of time in day care and that Swedish men spend more time performing unpaid household labour than other Nordic males.

Gender equality data to serve Nordic policy makers

Commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Nordic national statistics offices have worked together for over a year to be able to present a large number of comparative statistics. The purpose of the initiative is partly to give Nordic policy makers access to the best possible gender equality data and partly to disseminate information about Nordic gender equality to other countries.

‘The Nordic countries are forerunners in the area of gender equality. But we’re still not where we want to be. Important differences remain between the countries and there is plenty of room for improvement in all areas covered by the statistics. It is therefore important that this information is made accessible. The Nordic countries need to compare themselves with each other in order to learn where and how further progress can be made,’ says Dagfinn Höybråten, secretary general of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Nordic countries compared to EU

The subject headings include demographics, health, education, income and power.

Compared with other international gender equality databases, the Nordic one boasts more recent data and more comparative indicators.

Some of the indicators compare the Nordic countries with an EU average. For example, the numbers show that the income gap between male and female retirees is larger in the Nordic countries than in the rest of the EU. The reason for this is that Nordic women are more likely to live alone.